The Chi(Qi) Power

Below are some funny pictures.

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Learn Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Meditation & Chinese herb salve at same time

Dharmazen Retreat at Ocean Resort Vancouver Island BC, Date: April 16th – 18th, 2010

http://oceanresort.ca

Dharma-Zen Workshop at the Farm, Manitoba Date: May 29th & May 30th, 2010

Contact: (Facebook - Ginette Hacault, momma_yellow@yahoo.com, 204-526-2869)
Ginette is a shining light who works with people who are experiencing cancer or are wanting to build their immune systems for other reasons.  She runs retreats, does individual consulting and healing sessions, and facilitates a variety of events in southern Manitoba.  She can also consult by phone. 

Dharmazen Retreat at CrossRiver Wilderness Centre
Date: June 18th-20th, 2010 and August 27th-29th, 2010

http://www.crossriver.ca/dharmazentaichiqigongbuddhismretreat.asp

A short brief for Dharma Chi Kung(Qi Gong) with Tai Chi
This is an effective and enjoyable way to improve flexibility, balance, coordination, relaxation and calms the mind. Chi Kung(Qi Gong) means “Energy work”. The Dharma Chi Kung forms help muscles and tendons become stronger, more relaxed and more flexible. Chi Kung and Tai Chi are gentle ancient Chinese exercise for modern people, can be practiced by people of all ages.

With the right location and number of students, Danny may be able to hold a workshop(Retreat) wherever you are in the world.

January 26, 2010 by Danny | No comments

Right now I would like to introduce you to a Chinese herbal salve called “Zi Tsao Gao” or “Purple Grass Salve.” You can make it at home all by yourself.

Efficacy: This is most effective for muscle and joint aches, sprains, headaches,insect bites, itchiness, and hand dermatitis. It is also useful in helping wounds with broken skin heal well.

Just rub the ointment onto your skin. Its pain relieving properties will work quickly to reduce aches, swelling, and other discomfort that irritates the body.

There are seven Chinese Herbs in this salve:

1.Zi Cao: English: Redroot Gromwell
Latin:Lithospermum erythrorhizon
25g
http://alternativehealing.org/zi_cao.htm

2.Dang Gui: English: Chinese Angelica
Latin: Angelica sinensis
You want Dang gui wei (tail) 20g
http://alternativehealing.org/dang_gui.htm

3.Da Huang: English: Drug Rhubarb, Medicinal Rhubarb
Latin: Rheum officinale
20g
http://alternativehealing.org/da_huang.htm

4.Bai Zhi: English: Baizhi Angelica
Latin: Angelica dahurica
15g
http://alternativehealing.org/bai_zhi.htm

5.Ru Xiang: English: Frankincense
Latin: Resina olibani
15g
http://alternativehealing.org/ru_xiang.htm

6.Mo Yao: English: Myrrh
Latin: Myrrha
15g
http://alternativehealing.org/mo_yao.htm

7.Di Gu Pi: English:Chinese Wolfberry Root-bark
Latin:Lycium barbarum L.or Lycium chinense
20g
http://alternativehealing.org/qi_zi.htm

Menthol crystals, approx 20-30 grams, are a very common additional ingredient.
Adding this will make the salve feel cool, help the medicine penetrate through your skin and give it a menthol aroma. You will have to ask a pharmacist if they have any behind the counter. With 1-2 days notice many pharmacists should be able to order a container in for you. Xenex Laboratories Inc. from Coquitlam BC is manufacturer.

The Base is made of
1.Beeswax, 18g, in small pieces or shredded for easy melting
2.Olive oil or Grapeseed oil, 200ml

You can copy the names for all the Chinese herbs then bring it to a Chinese medicine store. Try to go to a store that understands Mandarin Chinese, for there are many varieties of Zi Cao/Gromwell, the most common being a tea making variety. The kind you require are deep purple, long, dried leaves, occasionally still attached to their roots.

Equipment:
a med or large, heavy bottom pot
candy thermometer. You will not be able to use this for candy ever again.
large sieve with fine holes, if you don’t blend your herbs fine.
cheesecloth, 1 package (usually 274 X 91cm) and a metal colander if you do blend your herbs.
A glass 1L measuring cup for adding the beeswax to the hot oil-herb mix. Glass is easiest to remove beeswax from
small jars, approx 125cc or less, with a lid. Or metal salve containers. In sufficient quantity to hold approx 200mL, in total, of salve.
Recommended: a powerful blender I.e. Vitamix with the grain canister. Alternatively, a large mortar and pestle, or a heavy rolling pin, or a hammer and sturdy bag. You could try rolling over the herbs with your truck but I don’t know how clean they’ll be!
Recommended: simple surgical face mask or painter’s/carpenters mask: this can be very effective for avoiding irritation from menthol fumes, and even fumes from the main mix. Especially useful if you have some left over supplies from the H1N1 overreaction.

Production:
1.Try to cut the herbs into small pieces ( I used my powerful Vitamix blender). If you cannot that is ok. Break them by hand, or use a mortar and pestle, or pound them with a hammer, or roll them with a heavy rolling pin. Many Chinese leaves the herbs whole. More active ingredients can be leeched from the herbs when they are in smaller pieces.
2.Place all the herbs in a large pot and cover with oil. Let stand for 24-48 hours. You may also try to blend this mix with your regular blender once they’ve been softened in the oil. Put just small quantities in your blender at a time.
3.Slowly heat oil and herbs and maintain at 140-160° Celsius for 30 minutes. You will need a candy thermometer for this. Turn on your overhead fan and ask people with sensitive noses/asthma/breathing problems to stay far away.
4.While heating the oil, you may want to preheat the glass measuring cup. Don’t get any water inside it for the oil-wax mix may not solidify properly with water added in. A stove, toaster oven or even sitting it in a hot water bath will do it.
5.Strain the oil from the herbs while hot. You can get the purest oil, with the least amount of herbal residue, when you use cheesecloth.
Put your metal colander in a slightly larger pot. Line the colander with at least 8 layers of cheesecloth (fold the cloth).
pour the mix through the colander into the pot. You can then press the herbs with a spoon to extract as much oil as possible.
For non crushed herbs simply use your large strainer as it is. Place it over a slightly larger pot or the dry measuring cup and pour the mix into it.
6.Pour your purified oil into your hot measuring cup, if it’s not already in it. Add the beeswax and stir until the wax is completely melted. Your mix needs to be 80-100° Celsius.
I find the mix sometimes cools down too much I.e. the wax won’t melt completely. Then I need to use a double boiler to heat it up enough again. I put the measuring cup in a slightly larger pot of boiling water, making sure water doesn’t get into my oil-wax mix, and stir until all the beeswax is incorporated. You don’t have to check the heat at this stage unless you really want to. If it melts, it’s hot enough!
Beeswax is difficult to remove from things. Soap will not work, only very hot water can melt it enough. Try to use just one spoon and your glass measuring cup from this point on.
7.Add the menthol. Be careful not to inhale the fumes from the hot mix as it is an irritant to eyes and mucous membranes.
8.Pour the mix, here is where a measuring cup is very useful, into your waiting clean, dry, heat proof containers. Spatula out as much as you can. This way you won’t have to try to melt/scrape it off your cup later whole cleaning.
9.Let cool. It should be a lovely deep purple or burgundy color. The type of oil will affect the end color.
If you find that the cooled salve is too hard, make changes to your recipe. Add 50mL more oil or only 14-15g beeswax next time. I haven’t tried remelting the salve and adding more oil, though this is theoretically possible.

Precaution:
Prohibited for pregnant woman.
Keep away from fire in using it and avoid heat.
Keep it in a cool and dry place.

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Process And Result

In this fast food age, many people have no patience with process; they only care about the end result. Sometimes people come ask me, ”How long does it take for me to finish the T’ai Chi form?” or, ”How long will it take for me to get flexible?” If I reply that it will take them 2 or 3 years to learn and understand the T’ai Chi form, or to get the degree of flexibility they desire, then they give up and no longer practice.

There is a Chinese maxim that sounds like this; “yà miáo zhù zh?ng”. It means “Trying to help the seedlings grow faster by pulling them upwards.”
This proverb comes from Confucius’ disciple Mencius(Mengzi). He explained it using this story:
“Once there was a farmer in Sung. He patrolled his farm every day and began to suspect that the sprouts at his farm are growing too slow. One day a thought arose in his mind, ”Why don’t I go and pull these rice seedlings upward? They will look taller and maybe it can also help them grow faster.” He thought it was a great idea, and did just that. At the end of day he was very tired, for it was a big job, but also very pleased. He went home to tell his family. The next day his son wanted to see how wonderfully tall the rice seedling were growing, but found they had withered entirely away.”

This story make me recall how, thirty years ago, the military in Taiwan trained soldiers to become more flexible. When a soldier was too stiff to touch his toes, they would get another person to stand behind his back and push down very hard on his body, until he reached his toes. You can just imagine what this traditional method generated.

Here in Canada I have come across a couple of similar axioms; “Haste makes waste” and “More haste, less speed.”
In my personal practice of Martial Arts I find myself enjoying the process. I am much less concerned over the end result. As a result it has become a part of my life, almost an unconscious habit, over the last twenty-five years.

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A Habit Becomes Natural

I read an article stating; “It takes 66 days to form a habit.” It said: ”If you make a New Year’s resolution to exercise or eat healthily and do it daily until March 7, it is likely to stick – suggest researchers who claim that it takes 66 days for a “healthy” pledge to become an ingrained habit. Reporting in the European Journal of Social Psychology, the researchers started to investigate how long it took for the repetition of behavior to reach the ”automacity’stage – where it is performed whenever the situation is encountered without thinking, awareness or intention. To reach the conclusion, the study’s volunteers were asked to choose a healthy eating, drinking or exercise behaviour that they would like to make into a habit, reports The Telegraph. Results showed that whilst the average time to form a habit was 66 days, more complex behaviours took longer. An exercise habit took longer to form than a healthy eating or drinking habit.” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5857845/It-takes-66-days-to-form-a-habit.html) (http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how-long-to-form-a-habit.php)

Here is a maxim the Chinese say; ”xíguàn chéng zìrán”. It means “A habit becomes natural” or “Habit is second nature”. The original story this phrase springs from comes from a Chinese Taoist philosopher named Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu), in his book Nanhua zhenjing Chapter19: Dasheng.
“Kongzi (Confucius) was observing the view from the Lu Liang Mountains where there was a waterfall three hundred feet high. The foam and froth created by the water as it hit bottom extended for thirteen miles. Neither turtles, alligators, fish nor any other water creatures were able to swim in those rapids. He saw one man swimming in the current and figured he must be very troubled and was trying to commit suicide so he told his disciples to line up at the banks of the river and rescue him. After the man had gone a few hundred feet he popped up in the water with his hair trailing behind him like a blanket, singing as he floated, and swam up to the edge of the embankment and climbed out.
Kongzi went up to him and asked:
“I thought you must have been some sort of ghost, but now I can see you’re a man. Please excuse me for asking, but do you have a special way to flit through water like that?”
“No, I don’t have a special way. I started with what was inborn in me, grew up following my own nature, and accomplished what I have because of my fate. When I enter, I merge with the flow and let it carry me. When I exit, I allow myself to be floated up gently by the current. I follow the way of the water and don’t try to force against it. That’s how I flit through the water.”
Kongzi said: “What do you mean by starting with what is inborn, growing up following your own nature, and accomplishing due to fate?”
“I was born from a pile of dirt so I’m comfortable in the hills – that’s what’s inborn. I grew from the water, so I’m comfortable in water – that’s my nature. I don’t know why I am the way I am, but I’m comfortable being what I am – that’s fate.”
I believe that it is instinctual for people to look for ways to achieve peace of mind and comfort for the body. Some people seek exterior means, like smoking, alcohol, drugs, and/or over eating to make their body and mind feel good. This is the easiest way to do it, but it also causes people the most difficulty when they try to quit their bad habit(s), especially once they have serious health problems.
After practicing Tai Chi, Chi Kung(Qi Gong) and meditation for over twenty years, I have found that our body and mind doesn’t need exterior means to feel good. We have an natural internal ability to make our own peace and comfort. Simply exercising our bodies and practicing our mind creates this. Human beings are creatures of habit. So if you can live to be eighty years old by only taking 66 days to form a good habit that can last the rest of your life, don’t you think it is worth it?

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